3 days ago
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AC Milan take on Lazio in the Coppa Italia in a rematch of Saturday’s Serie A game, and all eyes will be on Ardon Jashari.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall, back in the summer of 2002 Luka Modric signed his first professional contract with Dinamo Zagreb. He was about to turn 17, and it was the dawn of a brilliant and incredibly successful career.
In Cham, Switzerland, Jashari was born to an Albanian family from the Polog region of North Macedonia. Fate dictated that today, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, he would inherit the Milan regista role from the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner.
It will be his first start for Milan, after a summer injury sustained in a training ground collision with team-mate Santiago Gimenez. Since then he has been working hard to recover, hoping for an opportunity like this.
The €33m man at last
Jashari’s Milan career so far is limited only 24 minutes as a substitute against Bari, another Coppa Italia outing, and his first 16 minutes in the league against Cremonese. His first appearance came in place of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the second for Modric, 101 days ago.
Jashari needs to find his rhythm, as Massimiliano Allegri admitted: “More than to see Jashari’s qualities, it will be an opportunity to assess his physical condition. When he arrived, he had basically been sidelined for a month and a half. He played 45 minutes and was injured for two months. I’m also curious to see his fitness level.”
Ardon has been training on the field since the end of October, while for exactly a month he’s been watching from the bench as his team-mates won against Roma, Inter and Lazio in the league, and drew in Parma. Ninety minutes spent on the bench for four games.
Milan mapped out a specific and responsible path for him. During his time at Club Brugge, and before that at Luzern, Jashari played as a central midfielder: the beacon of the department and the one that the game was built around.
At 23 and with a coach capable of shaping him, Ardon could also take on the role of a mezzala, but tonight he will be a deep-lying playmaker in Modric’s absence. The post-Luka era could already be glimpsed, though they are very big shoes to fill.
The present and the future
In the meantime, there is the potential for a very high-quality midfield. That is, Jashari playing alongside Modric, with Adrien Rabiot as the third player. Size and technical ability in abundance.
Luka organises and intercepts, while Adrien is an effective all-rounder: with him on the pitch, in seven total matches (six league matches, plus the previous round of the Coppa Italia), Milan have won six and drawn once, away to Juventus. They’ve scored 11 goals, only one conceded against Napoli, a penalty.
The numbers prove that this isn’t a midfield of elegance and refinement alone. There’s muscle, dynamism and work rate. Jashari’s youth could complete the line-up: he’s enthusiastic and eager to finally showcase his talents.
After another long negotiation with Club Brugge, Jashari was ultimately acquired for €33m plus bonuses. Jashari has quality, a few goals (13 in 154 games between Luzern and Brugge), and excellent physicality. Tonight is his first chance to show it.
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